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Updated full back progress pic. Pretty much healed up from my last session. Will be seeing Rubendall again in May to finish shading the back of my left thigh. Probably start some color too!

I did something awesome yesterday: Ed spoke at an SF museum about "tattoo culture." It wasn't promoted very well--there were only about 15 people there--but that made it cooler for me. Then I saw Tattoo Nation a few hours later. Great day all around. PS @Doug Hardy, I'm wearing one of your pins on my jacket. :)

The most awesome thing I've done in a long time:D

I got my Bristol Tattoo Club bat courtesy of Paul Roe.....

I've added running into my routine and will be doing my first 5k this month. I've also been organizing a memorial celebration for my friend Shannon Larratt here in Philly with approx 200 people signed up so far. On the same day as my 5k. Going to be a long day. But the upside is we've had a lot of vendors donate raffle items, with 100% of the monies raised going to his daughter Ari, so... totally worth it.

All hail the mighty wiki

Morten Transeth at Blue Arms tattoo in Oslo did this on my shoulder on saturday. Super happy with it!

Lost my LST shirt so maybe my tiger can help out. Tony Hundahl - Rock of Ages Austin, Texas - one shot

Locked in for the 25th! Little more than 2 weeks away :D

he spits not swallows

This sort of thing is silly. If you want to get tattooed by somebody, contact them or their shop.

My mind is blown. good job Sir. I have that combo as my left and right sleeves. It's times like this though when I wish cloning oneself was possible so I could get multiple back pieces each with a new subject inspired by art, stories or what I see here.

Worked some more on my back yesterday with Mike Rubendall And then a new one today from Thomas Hooper

Tattooed guys talking about how they don't like tattooed women give me the douche chills.

Remember the saying " It's a black thing, you wouldn't understand"? i think that may be part of the issue in a mixed forum. So, i'm going to use that metaphorically. in a mixed forum, people can talk about cultural and political issues,personal musical and literary tastes and all contribute and all gain from the experience--- but as soon as one person starts talking about bigotry that they, as a black person- have encountered, or have a question about hair relaxer, a division occurs. I think many non-tattooers , certainly can empathize with tattooers about an issue specific to them--- just like many tattooers can still relate to non- tattooers in matters of , let's say design,artist shop choice etc. But when you get to a certain point that division can occur. Just my thought on what may be going on.

I finally get to compete! :) Hops done by Dutch Cooke of Immortal Ink, in Clinton, NJ. Click the pix for full size. -Joe

Here it is all healed up! Images are huge, so click for bigness. -Joe

@Kev you're killing me! maaan...looking at these kids is making me not like tattoos...jk...but...maybe just a little. Okay, maybe it's just them...but...grrr...normally seeing a tattoo gives me some sort of endorphin rush/sleepy little high (yeah, weird, huh?)...these are not activating those same pathways... WTF is it with selfies = modeling? Narcissim + vanity + instagram = THE NEW GUARD????? = kill me now. I would not bone any of these dudes. Just sayin'. These guys are the anti-boner.

That's where I've been: Although, once again, I'm not a tattooer. But fishing has become my latest obsession in the last six months.

Rule #1 about tipping is do it but don't talk about amounts or percentages here.

This kid makes me hate everything.

I just want you all to know that I love you very much.

So I wasn't sure if I was going to post any of my new tattoos but decided in the end to just go for it. I moved to France four months ago and have been sat in a lab isolated from the world pretty much ever since. I went to the Mondial du Tatouage show in Paris for three days as a birthday present to myself. I booked in with Stewart Robson and Valerie Vargas from Frith Street and also Greg Christian. I ended up getting tattooed six times in three days. It was also my first convention and I'm going to make sure I go to a few more :D I stole all the pictures from the respective artist's instagrams apart from one which I took with my phone. Demon head on knee - Stewart Robson (Frith Street Tattoo) Geisha Girl Head - Cody Miller (Blackheart Tattoo) Flaming Torch - Greg Christian Castle - Cody Miller (Blackheart Tattoo) Medusa Head - Valerie Vargas (Frith Street Tattoo) Devil Head - Nick Roddin (Blackheart Tattoo) I can't wait for the convention next year

Hey everyone, I've been reading the forums for the past couple of months and it's really helped me make some good tattoo choices! I'd go as far as to say it's totally changed my tattoo choices! I'm from Edinburgh in Scotland and am currently having work done by Alec Benjamin at Red Hot and Blue Tattoo in Edinburgh. Small pieces for now but some larger pieces in the making :) Looking forward to getting to know you all and hopefully be able to contribute something of use to the forum! :) x

^^^^ Damn real pimpin homies for three minutes couldn't ya have at least persuaded the hoes to look interested .

Unless something goes horribly wrong between now and this evening when I plan on leaving a deposit, I got a spot with El Monga in about 3 weeks. I just threw a couple ideas at him in an email (medieval stuff, mystical stuff, sword-wielding animals) and he seemed to be into it. Super excited.

Thanks but the real saints are the ones that run these rescues. You need the patience of Job, the wisdom of Solomon and the strength of Hercules!

Just got a couple more sessions from Jason Kundell on my back. I think I'm down to about 5 left, each being about 3 hours. I'll post some pics when it heals up. @ironchef - your piece looks great!

@ironchef: I'm speechless. Two of my favorite artists and, as you know, two of the world's greatest gentlemen.

@ironchef Very Awesome!!! Plenty Stoked for you! That's more like a back piece and a half!

is Codine syrup and weed considered straight edge now?

Saw some more about that Scott Sparks kid recently... apparently, he's a trust fund kid from Ohio, got lots of tattoos to try to fit into the Cali hardcore scene, bailed after he finished a tattoo apprenticeship, and is now trying to be a swagtastic rapper who's all about weed, money, and girls who may or may not be ratchet. Thankfully, no one in the rap game knows who Judge or Earth Crisis are, so his face won't bring up awkward questions... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ8FJ-PE4mA

Thanks @jade1955 and @gougetheeyes Paris was a blast and if they put it on next year I'll probably go again, although I maybe only got for two or three tattoos this time...

- - - Updated - - -

I was in a clothes shop in Coventry Garden a couple days ago and a shop assistant showed me his sleeve. What was cool about it is that it was vintage Thomas Hooper- from when he was on Into You..! Very ornate, still perfect after 7 years or so. I got tattooed in TFB (progress on my arm, Mo Coppoletta) and we spun by FST briefly to look in. My fiancé is booked in with Stewart next month.

Since October last year I have put a lot of effort into eating more healthy foods and looking after myself, happy to say it really is well worth the effort as I have lost 30 pounds or more. Problem is just about all my clothes are way to big now Ha Ha.

I mostly foster the seniors. I've lost three over the last several years and have three more that no one wants so they will be here until they pass too. I also have one that was so abused she's still scared of me after four years of constant love and patience. I'm not a violent person but God help anyone I ever see abusing an animal because I don't think I could stop myself from beating them senseless.

We moved. We moved from a narrow, carpeted, shoe-boxy apartment with blue and purple walls where the landlords (who were nice enough) lived downstairs, to a bright, open, tiled-kitchen and new wood floors apartment with a shared backyard that is pet friendly where our friends live below us and a super nice couple below them and where it doesn't feel like mom and dad/landlords live. I painted. We hired movers. From here on out I will always paint and hire movers. I'm turning this little alcove into a walk-in closet. We have a big ass rug coming soon. We're a block away from a nice park and in July after vacationy stuff we'll most likely foster and adopt a dog. I like our new hood more than I thought, too. DAMN IT FEELS GOOD TO BE A GANGSTER.

As promised, here are a couple of pics taken the day following my session with Nick Colella during his visit to The Pearl Harbor Gift Shop. I admit my photographic skill are weak at best. Nick is a helluva a guy and does killer work. Excepting the part that hurt like *^$, the experience was awesome, and since I'll be in Chicago over the summer, I hope to get at least one more done by Nick. So the inner bicep is tender - who knew?

Wish I had enough money to book in with Matt Ariola, his stuff is so awesome.

I guess I'll go first, but I already have a feeling that I'll be going up against some really tough competition this month. Nick Colella formerly of Chicago Tattoo Co., currently going rogue until he makes an announcement about whatever he has in the works:

7th session. 7 hours of snake scales

22 with a face tattoo. Sounds like an X or Violent Femmes song. There are few things more annoying to me than models of any type. Standing around looking sexy or sad while people take your photo is not my idea of a career. No matter how much it pays.

I'm not the best Photoshop guy, but lemme work on some of them, see what I can get up here.

Going to a doc is a good idea!

While most of my body is still empty space, this particular empty space was bothering me the most... Drove up to Toronto yesterday and had this sparrow/rose done by Tim Pausinger. It was my first time at that The Pearl Harbor Gift Shop - what an amazing place! All three of my tattoo experiences have been great but The Pearl was on another level (maybe due in part to me being more experienced at getting tattoos also) of cool. Definitely now going to be my default recommendation to anyone who asks me where they should get tattooed. If they don't want to drive an hour and a half then they just don't want it enough ;) edit: Just wanted to add that this was my first tattoo since joining LST and my first chance to post in this thread. Looking forward to many more.

Started this with Koeplinger a couple days ago. It's incredibly swollen, so it was hard to get a decent shot of it.

A place where tattooers can discuss techniques and information in a private environment away from 'the public'? Sounds great... Wait, I work in one every day. It's called a tattoo shop. Also I travel hundreds, often thousands of miles to go to these places in the real world. They are called conventions. By visiting the cream of the crop of both shops and/or conventions, we grow as tattooers and humans. There is no excuse not to visit if you care about tattoos, tattooing, learning and getting tattooed. LST does something else and does a damn fine job at it.

Getting tattooed for all the wrong reasons... 1/2 the fun is having them under wraps and showing them to whom and when you want. Rob